Mug-handle sensing microwave oven

Microwave ovens are handy for re-heating mugs of beverage that careless, inattentive people who spend too much time talking have allowed to go cold - or at least, too cool to drink pleasantly.

Many microwave ovens, however, have a turntable to ensure even heating.

When a mug is placed in the oven and re-heated, when the timer runs out there is a better than 50% chance that the handle of the mug will be away from the user, or at least relatively inaccessible - and since the oven heats the contents of the mug, not the structure itself, then the handle is usually cool enough to grasp, even for a thin-skinned wimp.

Should the handle be inconveniently placed, there are several options.

1. Restart the microwave and observe the mug; wait until the handle is perfectly positioned, then press the CANCEL button.

2. Locate a cloth or glove and use it to pick up the hot mug. If the user has small hands and pitifully weak grip strength, take care that the mug does not slip from the feeble grasp and spill or shatter on the floor.

3. Attempt to pick up the hot body of the mug with unprotected hands, resulting in shrieks of pain, spilt beverage etc.

4. Call for someone else with superior grip strength, dexterity and/or more heat-tolerant appendages to come and extract the mug.

The latter option seems to be the most popular. (The option of putting a glass plate - which does not heat up - under the mug before microwaving the contents also seems to be beyond the capacity of the typical user).

Thus BorgCo's kitchen appliance division is developing a mug-handle-sensing microwave oven. Equipped with a laser scanner and four video cameras, the user places their mug in the chamber, selects the heating time, then presses the special HEAT MUG control button. The oven proceeds to heat the beverage, but also scans the mug as it turns, and ensures that when the turntable stops, the handle is always facing toward the door.

And thus we progress.